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Former Mobile BayBear Justin Upton on top in All-Star voting

justin upton.jpg

Mobile BayBears center fielder Justin Upton makes a catch during a Southern League game against the Montgomery Biscuits on June 11, 2007, at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile, Ala. Upton now plays for the Atlanta Braves. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)

Former Mobile BayBear Justin Upton is the leader for a starting spot in the National League outfield in balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Star game. MLB released an update of the fan voting for the All-Star game this week.

With 1,184,249 votes, Upton, who's the left fielder for the Atlanta Braves now, has the second-most in the National League behind San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, who has 1,275,956.

The voting update reveals the top five at each position, except outfield, where the top 15 are listed. Three more Coastal Alabama-connected players appear in the vote totals, but one local player having an All-Star-caliber season does not.

Former Mobile BayBear Paul Goldschmidt stands third in the balloting for the NL first baseman, ex-South Alabama star David Freese is fourth in the NL third baseman balloting and former BayBear Carlos Gonzalez ranks 10th in the NL outfield.

Former Faith Academy and Auburn standout Josh Donaldson is not among the top five vote-getters at third base in the American League, even though he and reigning AL MVP Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers are the only players that rank among the top five at the position in batting average, runs, hits, home runs, RBIs and stolen bases.

As the Oakland Athletics third baseman, Donaldson has hit .332 with 32 runs, 18 doubles, eight homers and 37 RBIs in 60 games this season.

With 1,500,165 votes, Cabrera has more than any player in the All-Star balloting. Trailing Cabrera in the AL race are Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles with 723,943 votes, Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers with 600,271, Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays with 454,047 and Kevin Youkilis of the New York Yankees with 235,388. Youkilis has played in only 22 games this season because of injuries.

Freese started the season on the disabled list with back problems and got off to a slow start upon his return for the St. Louis Cardinals. But the 2012 All-Star is riding a 15-game hitting streak that has raised his average to .279.

Freese has 375,428 votes. The Giants' Pablo Sandoval leads in the NL third base race with 1,094,475, followed by the New York Mets' David Wright, Mets at 967,299 and the Braves' Chris Johnson at 386,811.

Goldschmidt had 30 home runs and 94 RBIs in 103 games for the BayBears in 2011 in his last minor league stop before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks. This season, Goldschmidt leads the National League with 53 RBIs. He's hitting .336 with 14 home runs.

Goldschmidt has 473,513 votes so far. Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds is the runaway leader at first base in the National League with 1,044,742 votes. San Francisco's Brandon Belt, with a .242 average and 28 RBIs, is between Goldschmidt and Votto with a 513,371 vote total.

Upton is batting .257 with 41 runs, 14 homers and 29 RBIs for the Braves this season. He played in 71 games for the BayBears in 2007 on his way to the big leagues, hitting .309 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs.

Upton is joined in the starting NL outfield at this point in the voting by Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals and Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Gonzalez, who plays for the Colorado Rockies, leads the National League with 49 runs, and he hit three homers against Cincinnati on Wednesday night to boost his season total to 17. But his vote total of 482,719 is only about half of Braun's.

Gonzalez spent most of the 2007 season with the BayBears, hitting .286 with 16 homers and 75 RBIs.

Other Coastal Alabama-connected players on the ballot are Toronto Blue Jays first Adam Lind, who played at South Alabama and is hitting .329 in 2013; Miami Marlins left fielder Juan Pierre, a Mobile native who played at South Alabama; and Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Eaton and Cleveland Indians designated hitter Mark Reynolds, both former BayBears. Reynolds leads the Indians with 13 homers and 41 RBIs this season.

Fans can vote online for the starting lineups (except the pitchers) for the American and National leagues until 11:59 p.m. July 4. Fans can vote up to 25 times -- 35 times if an MLB.com account is used.

The 2013 American League and National League All-Star teams will be announced on July 7 on "The 2013 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show," which will be televised by TBS.

The All-Star Game will be played on July 16 at Citi Field, the home park of the New York Mets. The game will be televised by Fox.

Mobile native Hank Aaron holds the All-Star game record by being selected for the Mid-Summer Classic in 21 seasons.